Behind the Scenes of MMD
by Kasuyorai
Summary: Mephisto ropes a bored Amaimon into dancing. Because Mephisto is a ...person who likes vocaloids. Written at night, might be a little crack-ish. Fluffy. Sibling-bonding.
1. Let's dance like this

_**A/N:**_  
 _ **This is a little snippet that came to my mind watching an MMD with Mephisto and Amaimon on youtube ('Bad Apple' is the song) and I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it. Also, Mephisto is totally a person that would do something like this.**_  
 _ **I do not make any profit from this and neither Mephisto nor Amaimon, or that video belong to me. This is purely for my entertainment, and hopefully yours as well.**_

"...And that would be all. You understand?" Mephisto asked after the video finished playing.

"I'm not sure I do, Aniue. Why do we have to do this again?"

Mephisto's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Now listen here, little brother. It was YOU, who endlessly pestered ME to spend some time with you, because you were bored. And since you are obviously not able to entertain yourself without wreaking havoc, and I decided to generously sacrifice some of my time for this, out of my busy schedule..."

...That mainly consisted of catching up with the newest season of anime (really, between this, his Academy and the Illuminati there was hardly any time left for himself - good that he was apt at manipulating others into doing some of his work for him).  
But there was no reason to mention that.

"... so~ it's only natural that we would be doing something I want to do, is it not?"

Amaimon stared at him, then back at the screen.

"It is, Aniue. But..."

Another twitch.

"Yes...?"

"Why dancing?" Amaimon finally voiced his reason for hesitation, carefully. Mephisto was scary when angered, after all. "I have never done something like..."

He trailed off at the sight of the devilish smile that spread on his brother's face.  
At least he wasn't angry. But that kind of smile was no good news either.

"Ah, yes, yes. Of course you haven't. But you won't need to worry about that, it is really easy."

There were his concerns, brushed aside. But it wasn't over.

"... Besides, you did watch closely, didn't you? You remember the choreography."

It was something a demon learned with age - to remember moves on sight and make them their own. It was an important skill for fighting, and nobody would survive a thousand years in Gehenna without it. Not that he had to use it that often, anymore.

"..." Amaimon's silence was answer enough, and soon he found himself dragged along by a chipper Mephisto to an relatively empty pocket dimension of his.

Looking around the room, Amaimon was astonished by the level of preparation Mephisto seemed to have put in this. There was a big sound system, the lighting was perfectly tuned and the stage decorated. At the moment Mephisto was humming, setting up a camera, presumably to capture their effort on film.  
Something clicked in his mind.

"Say, Aniue..."

"What is it?"

Amaimon had the feeling his brother was daring him to go back on their little arrangement.

"If you wanted to do this that badly, why haven't you done so already?"

A short pause.

"Because it is a choreography for two people, silly. I can't just do this on my own whenever I want."

"Then, couldn't you have asked someone else?" That question was treading into dangerous territory, but now he was curious.

Anyone else would probably have missed the slight change in atmosphere, but Amaimon could tell his brother was close to snapping again.

"Don't worry, I won't." Amaimon answered the silent question, if he was going to have another try at worming himself out of this one. At that, his brother relaxed, and he was able to breathe once more.

There were no people in the Order Mephisto could rope into dancing to the song of a vocaloid with him. Everyone was too stuck up. Besides, what was the fun in just ordering someone to dance at his side, if they were all stiff. Now, his brother on the other hand, would do nicely. His movements were raw but had a certain beauty to them.

"If I did that, I wouldn't be able to spend time like this with you, little brother, now would I?"

This answer actually surprised Amaimon - for all his brother's complaining about him, this was a side he would not get to see very often. But every now and then, Mephisto would show that he did, in fact, care for his family. Even if he would not admit it to himself.  
But Amaimon knew better than to tease him about it.

When Amaimon moved to take the stage, his brother's voice sounded out once more.

"And I get the girl's part~!" (1)

"Yes, Aniue."

 _(1) This is, a reference to when I first saw the animated choreography in a different video. Twins, boy and girl. The role Mephisto is taking is that of the girl._


	2. Fine-tuning

_**A/N: So, this is for my dear guest, who actually wanted a second chapter. And I had some ideas on what to do. So, this might not be what you had in mind, but it is a two-shot now, woohoo! The tone is still a bit off. I still don't own BE, or that video.**_  
 _ **Thank you TheamazingGrell from youtube for uploading that amazing piece of work, it made my day.  
Mostly Amaimon's PoV this time. Have fun!**_

Somehow, it wasn't nearly as "really easy" as Mephisto had said it would be.

\- "You are out of sync! Listen to the music, we need to do this part together!"

Moving in sync was something Amaimon could understand. It took a few tries to do in practice (two for him to adjust to his brother's moves and timing and another one when he forgot he wasn't supposed to do copy everything - "That's my part! You have your own!"), but the concept was easy enough.

\- "You act like a robot, little brother. Dancing is emotion! Where is the anguish? The suffering? This song is about -"

Amaimon deadpanned at his brother's antics.  
Whatever did this about dancing and emotion even mean? He knew anger, jealousy, pride, amusement, boredom, attachment and possessiveness (the latter mainly with his garden - he liked his garden - and maybe Behemoth).

He vaguely understood that the ones his brother was talking about were emotions some demons liked to invoke in humans, but never had been interested in playing with them like Mephisto was. Humans were weak and boring little creatures - the restraint necessary for interacting with them wasn't something he was good at, nor came to him easily for that matter.

He didn't think he knew quite how "Anguish" and "suffering" even felt in the first place. And what in the seven hells they would have to do with any physical activity, dancing or no.

He was torn from his thought process by his elder brother, snapping his fingers in front of his face. He focused on Mephisto again, who was wearing an annoyed and exasperated expression he had come to know quite well. Apparently he had stopped listening sometime during his brother's monologue.

"Sorry, Aniue."

A sigh. "Right. I should have expected this to be too difficult of a topic for you."

Amaimon opened his mouth to protest - he was not a child anymore, at least not to the point where his brother should have to avoid unsuitable topics - but was dismissed with a wave of Mephisto's hand.

"It's fine." Mephisto explained with a wry smile after eying Amaimon's expression, still caught in a deadpan.

"Expressing emotion via physical means - mainly facial expression and body language - is a very human notion after all."

Expressing emotion via physical means...? Like shouting when you were angry? He had seen his little half-breed brother do that a lot. He even did it himself sometimes. He tried not to do it too often, though. It meant loosing his composure, something unbefitting of a Demon King, as Mephisto had so often reminded him.

... That it was used for other emotions as well was interesting. He wondered what something like "bored running" would look like.

"Amaimon~"

Oh, he had tuned his brother out, again. And now he was wearing that smile, again. Which meant he had another plan that made up for all the exasperation he had felt at his little brother. That could be either something really uncomfortable, or... worse. Hopefully he was still in a good mood.

"I see expressing such complex, foreign emotion is a little difficult for you, as you have no practice at all..." (Was he swooning? At the supposedly complex, foreign emotion, that was apparently conveyed in a song? Amaimon would still need some time to get used to this concept.)

Mephisto clapped his hands.

"BUT~ as I can let you off the hook with that one, there is something else we simply cannot do without. Would you have any idea as to what that is?"

He did not have the slightest idea. His brother was the expert at human culture, not him. But he decided it was the smart thing to humour him.

"I don't know, Aniue. What is it?"

Mephisto's smile grew wider.

"A smile~!" He shouted after an uncharacteristically short dramatic pause.

Amaimon blinked. Really?

"Yes, the thing I am doing right now. It is not that difficult, little brother. Lift the ends of your mouth and give me a smile~"

Amaimon looked at the big grin his brother was wearing. Sure, he smirked occasionally when he was having fun, but to do it consciously like this was an unexpected challenge. How did one smile again?

Unsure, he tried imitating Mephisto's grin. From the way Mephisto froze completely, the only part moving his still widening eyes, it was bad.

His brother then proceeded to break down into a fit of giggles. Frustrated he stopped, waiting for his brother to stop laughing. Now, that was embarassing.

"I don't know how to smile like that..." he mumbled.

Whether it was that last sentence or he had laughed enough, Mephisto finally was able to control himself again and the giggles morphed into two short coughs before ceasing entirely.

"Excuse me, little brother. That expression did not fit you, at all."

"But -"

"Yes, I know. I was the one who asked." A sigh.

"Then -"

"No, as I said, I am _not_ willing to compromise on this." Mephisto interrupted him with his eyes narrowed, before launching into another dramatic explanation of his.

"When dancing, one should always wear a smile on his lips. Show you're having fun~ and in case you aren't, at least pretend you are. It's terribly rude to your partner _and_ the audience otherwise.  
But I agree we should do this differently... so how about you keep your mouth closed, most of the time, and just lift the ends a little bit? Like this~?"

At the last part of the explanation, Mephisto moved to give a little assistance, consisting of surprisingly gentle gloved fingers pulling at Amaimon's face to get the desired result.

"There~" Mephisto stepped back, satisfied, but couldn't resist teasing his brother a little more.

"That isn't so hard, now, is it? I was honestly a little worried your host body's muscles for smiling had deteriorated considering you hardly ever use them~"

"They don't and you know it, Aniue." Amaimon was still embarrassed.

Mephisto just smiled. Little brothers were cute sometimes.

"Well, then, let's try again, shall we?"

But Amaimon just noticed another thing his brother had said.

"Wait a moment, Aniue... What was that about an audience?"

Was there something he should know about this? There had never been any talk of an audience before.

Mephisto smiled backwards at Amaimon while walking to his spot on the stage.

"That, my little brother, is a secret~"

 _ **A/N:  
(Edit: Sorara banana: Thank you for writing again, but don't feel bad about that. I am happy someone took the time to review, I just can't answer via PM for Guests. I have added the categories now, thanks again for that. Have a wonderful day~)  
**_


	3. Finished and Peace

_Disclaimer: I'm only borrowing the characters of BE, they don't belong to me. I don't have monetary profit from this and fully intend to return them when I'm done playing with them._

 ** _A/N: So, this is the "afterwards" part, as well as the officially intended last part. But for *ehem* reasons there will be an Omake/Epilogue as well, so one more chapter after this. It somewhat belongs to this story, but not entirely. Will upload that sometime during the week, probably. But first, enjoy!_**

After many hours of practicing they were finally done - meaning they had reached a point where his brother was finally satisfied with the dance including the video recording of the same and Amaimon was free to relax on the rooftop.

It wasn't that Mephisto was a perfectionist or anything like that (as long as events were interesting, that was fine in his book - 'perfect' was just a bonus) but he did like to do things properly. Even more so when his entertainment (his hobbies) was involved.

In other words, for Amaimon the day had been long and odd, but definitely not a boring exercise.

If it even had been a day - it's not like the place they had been in had any semblance of windows. You could never tell with those pocket dimensions. (He shuddered - some of them altered the flow of time - and was happy he wasn't stuck in one of those anymore.)

During that time Mephisto had more than once closely resembled that nagging bat familiar of his.

Speaking of familiars, Amaimon did not understand what was so great about that one. Or maybe it was better behaved around his brother in general. It still had nothing on his Behemoth. He would have to look for a fitting vessel for that one again. Maybe having his old companion around to play would help alleviate his boredom a bit in the future.

Too bad Mephisto had forbidden to take the little Hobgoblin anywhere near his office.

All because he had somehow, one time, broken free of his leash and gnawed on one of Mephisto's figurines. He hadn't seen his brother this murderous in ages.

...Maybe he would indeed spare Behemoth the terror of facing his brother again. It had taken weeks (and some gifts he had gathered on his trips across Japan) for Mephisto to forgive him - for "letting that happen in the first place, when your pet's training is your responsibility". He couldn't quite imagine what it would be like for his little familiar.

But for now, he was contented, reminiscing and sucking on his lollipop - apple flavoured - which had been temporarily confiscated along with all the other sweets he had with him, as soon as they had started their training. ("You wouldn't want to choke on them during practice, now, would you?")

He had even gotten a look at the video material from the camera Mephisto had set up (it wasn't half bad). When his brother was somewhat satisfied with their routine he had called for little breaks to adjust the camera in a different angle after each dance.

On the question why he was so fixed on filming, the only answer Amaimon had gotten was that he wanted to have something to remember today by. Or rather, Mephisto had swooned about how the "precious memories with his baby brother" needed a way to be kept.

The oddest part however had been when Mephisto decided he wanted a shot with the camera circling them, and he roped his familiar into helping - but not without a meticulously detailed instruction on how to float, because apparently nobody wanted to have the strange hopping motion (which would come with the flapping of wings) in the video.

Why would they even need something like this?

At least from that point onward, he wasn't the only one bossed around by his brother.

But he had fun, somehow. Dancing was an activity that, while not taxing on his body or mind, kept them occupied. He got to spend time with his brother, and while he had been yelled at a lot, there hadn't been that threatening undertone his brother liked to use. He had simply been ... enthusiastic.

Plus, Amaimon happened to like the song they had been using and by the end he would have been able to sing along, if he had wanted to.

Maybe his judgment was a little off, because it had been something new, but...

"You did well today, little brother."

And he was praised. How long had it been?

Amaimon turned to Mephisto, who joined him on the roof.

"Today was fun."

"My, my, has my brother finally discovered the joys of dance and music?" Mephisto teased, before adopting a calmer expression while letting his gaze wander until it settled on the sky over his city.

"I thought you might like it. You do have quite a talent for dancing."

Talent? With all the lectures on what he did wrong?

Mephisto sighed. Amaimon's own skepticism must have shown.

"Do you not believe me little brother? You do pick up these things remarkably quickly. Why, with most people that project would never have been finished today."

Ah yes, his brother had wanted to do this and he was a busy person. And he soon would have to go back to his work - Amaimon had taken plenty of his time already.  
Back to boredom.

"Why so gloomy? I am 'giving you a compliment', enjoy it. That most likely won't be a regular occurrence."

That wasn't the problem. He just had too much time to spend. Even with helping Mephisto with his little games, humans needed the sleep. He did not.

"Aniue."

"What is it?"

"Let's do this again. Sometime, when you are not busy."

That answer brought a smile to his brother's face. For a moment he looked like he was contemplating possible answers - serious, teasing - before controlling himself. As the smile grew wider, he kept his answer simple.

"With pleasure~"


	4. Afterwards 2 - an Epilogue

_(still don't own them)_  
 _ **A/N:**_  
 _ **From here on out, you may consider this an (somewhat serious) Epilogue, as well as some ideas concerning my personal head-canon for when this could take place. It is mostly separate from the rest.**_  
 _ ***Some SPOILERS (and a little speculation) ahead for people not following the manga***_

 _(There is a_ _time skip_ _of a_ _few days_ _here)_

Before Mephisto had joined Amaimon for their little conversation, he had gone ahead following his own agenda.

He had been thrilled to finally have finished the project (which he had wanted to do ever since he first got in touch with the phenomenon called vocaloids), but in all honesty it wasn't only the dancing he wanted. To complete the experience he needed a video of the dancing, of one duration of the song, properly edited with the multiple perspectives. It was part of the reason it had taken him so long to get started (the other part was the problem of a partner) - he couldn't have done it himself as he was lacking the necessary expertise in the field, meaning the result would be mediocre at best.

So, he had compromised and found someone who would help, as long as they got the video material.

He had sent a copy of the full material to this special acquaintance of his and in return, they gained a copy of the edited version as well - which they could use however they saw fit. Though he had his suspicions about what they had in mind - hence the warning about audiences to his brother.

Now that he was sitting in his office looking over the edited version he had just received, he would have to say he was quite pleased with the result.

And it seemed like Amaimon actually had enjoyed their little project as well.

...Which, in turn, led to its own share of problems.

They had agreed to do another project (possibly with a little less effort on filming), but apparently his dear little brother had completely forgotten about the "when you're not busy" part. Or maybe he was simply getting impatient.

Now if it was just this, he would be able to deal with it, however his brother was starting to get ... ideas.

 _\- A few hours previous -_

" _WHAT?_ "

If Amaimon was someone for fidgeting, he would definitely do that now under Mephisto's very own glare. Instead all the older one got was a slight tensing of muscles.

"... I just said, it might be more fun with more people -"

He had thought that Amaimon might enjoy the project, but for him to be this ...serious about it was something he hadn't thought of.

"I heard that, and I already explained it to you! You can't just simply invite random people -" he attempted to explain again, exasperated.

"I'm not talking about random -"

"Then who ARE you talking about?"

\- Mephisto was starting to get annoyed.  
Nobody interrupted him when he was speaking, least of all his quiet little brother - he had trained him better than that.

"Well..."

"Yes?"

A mumble.

His eyebrow started twitching again.

"Speak clearly, would you? I'm afraid I didn't quite catch that last part."

"Maybe our other brothers would like to come, too."

...The suggestion itself as well as the person it came from shocked Mephisto into silence for a moment.

He was actually quite pleased that Amaimon was starting to appreciate his hobbies (and the culture of course), but if there was no way to get the regular members of the Order to participate in such an activity, the chances the Okumura siblings would do something like this... weren't favourable at all.  
As in, they only listened when he was talking in his function as their boss.

"Now, why would you even want that?" He asked, exasperated but somewhat curious.

"It would be fun."

Inviting them to something like this would be -

... Wait, now that he thought about it (letting his imagination take over) it wasn't even that bad of an idea and his mind was helpfully supplying him with an image of what the younger one could possibly look like, if he let loose a bit.

 _Satan_ knew he needed it.

Not that Mephisto personally had a problem with his professional (stiff) attitude - it was a lot more pleasant that the loud ways of the older one. Just not healthy.

Ah, that was no good. Now he was thinking about how to possibly convince them, just because Amaimon had asked him (and it would be something he had yet to see).

[He noted he would have to refrain from spoiling his brothers, especially when he was in charge of their education (the twins) or had been (Amaimon).]

Still, he couldn't help his lips twitching slightly when thinking of that idea.

"Sadly, as amusing as that would be, I need both of them to concentrate on their work for now. They have a lot to do and aren't as easily bored as you are."

"It could be training."

"There are more effective methods, which would be most preferable."

It simply would not do for Rin to fall behind on his regular training - with his execution still looming, suspension or no.

"I want to play with them, too."

Mephisto twitched.

"And, pray tell, do you remember what happened the last time?" He sighed.

"They will not be happy to see you and I will not stand for further destruction of my school grounds. ...And if you harm any of my students, I swear I really will kill you." He added the last part as an afterthought, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Amaimon tensed at the change in tone.

The talk had gotten a little serious, but it was best to be very clear on this sort of topic - one he was not willing to compromise on.

"I won't kill them as long as you don't want me to. I just wanted to... spend some time with them, too."

"Is that so."

He wasn't quite convinced.

"They are not... completely boring."

A short pause.

It seemed his little brother was really adamant about this. And more importantly, would continue to bug him about it.

When he thought about it, it shouldn't have been as surprising as was. Amaimon did originally decide to visit because he was bored of life in Gehenna. And now that he had the chance he was itching to learn more about his other family members. Which really wouldn't be that much of a problem, if not for...

"Well, as long as you have yourself under control, I don't care what you are doing."

His brother perked up a little.

"I can control myself."

His eyebrow rose.

"...Forgive me for not sharing your trust."

"I will." Amaimon corrected himself.

Mephisto was feeling the signs of a coming headache.

Earth really was a fitting element for his brother - he could be exceedingly stubborn once he had decided on what he wanted to do. Like a rock - heavy and unmoving, most of the time, but once it got rolling, it was nearly impossible to stop and even changing the path would need either tools, skill, quite a lot of luck and circumstance, or a combination of the three. Speaking in human terms, at least.

For demon terms... well, making it a mountain would be a good start. But then the second part of the metaphor wouldn't work so well anymore.

With a sigh he gave in, very much tempted to try and massage the throbbing away.

"Fine. But at the moment they are out on a mission and I want them to concentrate on that. Just remember two things. Firstly, if you want to play with them, keep in mind to restrain yourself. No going all out, no involving my other students, no destroying the grounds and this time leave my statue in one piece, for heavens sake.  
And secondly, if you really just want to spend time with them, do something about your differences first."

At that he gave a pointed look to his brother - noticing the blank look his brother returned, he added:

"Make up with them - right now it will end in a brawl anyway, for you were not off to the best start. At the moment they still have good reason to be angry with you."

"Why?"

...It seemed like his brother still didn't know what he was talking about.

"When humans want to get along, they don't fight like we do. They are polite. They may poke fun, but don't aim to hurt, physically or mentally." He explained with a sigh.

At that Amaimon turned away, and Mephisto wondered if that was his equivalent to pouting.

"Humans are difficult."

He allowed his features to soften a little.

"That, they are. But in case of our half-brothers this is how they were raised until now."

"They will have problems in Gehenna."

He chuckled darkly.

"Now, now, let's hope that doesn't happen anytime soon. They aren't ready for that yet."

Or let's hope it doesn't happen at all. But his plans would have to accept all possibilities - he liked it when the world was able to surprise him.

But, serious topic aside, the reason Amaimon had come to talk (interrupting his paperwork) in the first place was...

"Let's see... If things calm down enough I will see what I can do to ...convince the twins to a little session, what do you say?"

The things one does for family.

"You will do that, Aniue?"

He would. If only to see it himself. He even had some ideas for Rin (Memory and body control - or as Amaimon had called it, training), but for Yukio...

"No promises, though."

He winked playfully. He really wasn't too sure if this was going to work.

He was definitely spoiling his little brother. Sweets, entertainment, about anything he could do about what the younger demon asked. Speaking of which...

He had an idea.

"Say, Amaimon, about your other problem... spending time with our little brothers. What do you think about going to school again~?"

"School?"

"Yes. My school. How do you feel about being a student at True Cross Academy? Not the Cram School, of course. Just the regular one."

Humans were very fickle creatures. They would change their feelings and break their promises much easier than demons would (promises being their equivalent of contracts). The Grigori were no exception. Amaimon could use school life to alleviate some of his boredom and should the worst case happen, he would be close enough to act - and protect his most precious little pieces.

And then and there he decided, that for all the work he had Amaimon do, it was perfectly fine to spoil him a little bit.

 ** _A/N: Because that totally happened. Thank you for sticking with me, I hope you enjoyed your time here. It would be nice if you could spend a minute of your time on giving me some feedback._**

 _So for people who are interested, the reasons this exists are as followed:_  
 _1 - I really wanted to try my hand at Mephisto for the last chapter - properly this time._  
 _2 - After I had seen the video that inspired this little story, I came across another one. This was the what came to mind immediately._  
 _3 - As soon as I started I wasn't able to get to what I wanted to be the ending in a way that made sense to me._  
 _4 - I had some themes I wanted to explore a little. Part of which go quite well with recent manga developments._  
 _5 - When I was done it had gotten way too long - it deserved to be its own chapter. (I blame Mephisto)  
_

 _Soo, yeah. Rin and Yukio, with Amaimon und Mephisto. I "would" actually include that in here, but now I don't think I'm going to write it down, at all. Mainly because there is that point in the video where for animation reasons, Yuki jumps on Rin's tail, and Rin just keeps his stone face. If that would happen "in life", there would be chaos. Screaming, apologizing, lectures and the like, all at once. I would HAVE to include that. But I am not one for (physically) torturing my characters, and poor Rin doesn't deserve that. Especially when he is the one that is more likely to have fun, out of the twins, whereas with Yukio you are asking who used which drugs on him to get him to participate xD ... Actually it's probably more along the lines of not letting Rin alone with that sort of company. Ah well, so much for "the story that never was".  
Have a wonderful day~  
_


End file.
